Highly Sensitive Magnetic-SERS Dual-Function Silica Nanoprobes for Effective On-Site Organic Chemical Detection

We report magnetic silver nanoshells (M-AgNSs) that have both magnetic and SERS properties for SERS-based detection. The M-AgNSs are composed of hundreds of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles for rapid accumulation and bumpy silver shell for sensitive SERS detection by near-infrared laser excitation. The intensity of the SERS signal from the M-AgNSs was strong enough to provide single particle-level detection. We obtained much stronger SERS signal intensity from the aggregated M-AgNSs than from the non-aggregated AgNSs. 4-Fluorothiophenol was detected at concentrations as low as 1 nM, which corresponds to 0.16 ppb. The limit of detection for tetramethylthiuram disulfide was 10 μM, which corresponds to 3 ppm. The M-AgNSs can be used to detect trace amounts of organic molecules using a portable Raman system.